On Seventh day the River Rested, sound and light installation, 2019, 2020.
An inspiration to make this project came from the mythical Jewish tale about river Sambatyon. The tale says that this river was pushing “…heavy loads of rocks along its sandy course. On the seventh day, like the Creator fashioning the universe (…) the river rested.”
A river is often a metaphor of movement, and the notion of stopping what is constantly in movement is what I invite the viewers to imagine. Every element of the exhibition explores this prolonged moment of suspendence.
The exhibition space – a church – played a very important role in rethinking or imagining what would happen if everything suddenly stopped. Due to the certain properties of the blue light spectrum the lines of the church interior blurred. So in a way the building had lost its function and became something else. Furthermore, all space was filled with low frequency sound. I recorded and amplified one sound of an organ. This particular sound is the only note (in register timpani) that can be played during the silent period before Christmas or Easter. Its low frequency has a calming effect. Furthermore it could be felt throughout the body so the visitor could literally resonate within the space, feel pleasure and get for a moment to a different dimension of the space – space of nonmovement.
On Seventh day the River Rested is a also curated show. Students from Academy of Fine Arts Dominyka Balaišytė, Nidas Kaniušas and Gailė Cijunaitytė contributed to the theme of stillness and flow.
Text in artnews.lt:
https://artnews.lt/suskaiciuoti-pasverti-padalinti-projektas-septinta-diena-upes-ilsejosi-sv-jonu-baznycioje-55518
